Improving fertility in reduced-tilled soil with sewage sludge and frequent irrigation enhances maize silage yield and water productivity
Improving soil moisture management can result in highercrop yields and waterproductivity by enhancing the benefits of organic and inorganic components found in sewage sludge. The study aimed to improve soil and cropfertilitybytesting different irrigation strategies with varying amounts of stabilized sewage sludge (0, 30, 60, and 90t<middle dot>ha-1 in SS0,SS1,SS2, and SS3, respectively) underreduced tillagetoenhance the waterproductivity ofsilage maize. Soil moisture was adjusted to field capacity when the total estimated evapotranspiration minus effective precipitation reached 25, 50, and 75 mm in irrigation strategies W1, W2, and W3, respectively. Results from twoyearswith three replicates showed that organic matter, macronutrients, and exchangeable cations increased significantly with higher doses of sewage sludge, while pH decreased and salinity remained low. Frequent irrigation increased organic matter mineralization, enhancing plant nitrogen uptake and improving soil fertility. This resulted in improved crop nutrient contents, chlorophyll, stomatal conductance, leaf water content, and membrane damage index. The SS3-W1treatment produced the highestfreshbiomass at130.5mg<middle dot>ha-1,a37.5% increase over SS0-W1, mainly due to increased leaf and stem growth. SS3-W1 also showed the highest water and irrigation water productivity at30.3 and 40.3 kg<middle dot>m-3, respectively, a 37.1% improvementoverSS0-W1. Thestudyindicatesthathigherwaterproductivitycanbeachievedinfrequentlyirrigated silage maize by increasing sewage sludge dose.
- Journal
- BRAGANTIA
- Year
- 2025
- Volume
- 84
- ISSN
- 0006-8705
- eISSN
- 1678-4499
- DOI
- 10.1590/1678-4499.20250035
- WoS UID
- WOS:001677325900007